Carved in the Rock
Image via Wikipedia"Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" (Job 19:23-24)This longing no doubt later led him, when the Lord finally restored him to health and prosperity, to do just that. Job apparently wrote his book, originally, not on some perishable material but, as we see in our text, on tablets of stone with a pen of iron so that his testimony might be permanently available to all future generations.
Indeed, God in His providence has ordained exactly that, by incorporating it in the Bible. And the essence of Job's testimony is surely one of the most wonderful statements of faith ever penned, all the more remarkable in view of Job's circumstances when he uttered it, and in light of the limited knowledge of God's plan of redemption available in his day. Here it is: "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth" (v. 25). Even before the days of Moses, Job knew that God Himself would become, not just the world's Redeemer from its bondage under the great Curse, but his own personal Savior! He even sensed the necessity of God's bodily incarnation, for he said He would stand on the earth in the latter days. He knew that he himself would someday be resurrected from the dead, for he said that, even after worms had destroyed his body, "yet in my flesh shall I see God" (v. 26). In the many centuries since, multitudes of other believers have seen Job's testimony, written forever in the Book, and have made it their own, trusting their living Redeemer.
